Fat people, ugly people, people who are too short or too tall, people who have the wrong skin color, people whose glasses are too thick, people who are bald or balding, especially women, women who are mannish, men who are effeminate, etc.

On the other hand if you are young and beautiful not only are you more likely to get away with crimes but you are also more likely to get a job, make more money, and be considered nice.

That's the way of the world and we have known about it for a while now.

Not sure if I believe this study. The thing with science is, sure, this published study seems to indicate that men, especially lean men, tend to "convict" obese females more than they would lean females, when given the same facts about an alleged check fraud crime.

But this is just one study, with a unique set of case facts for a specific crime, with specific pictures, using an at best imperfect approach (guilt or innocence was decided after reading a paragraph, not after a trial with evidence, the defendant in the flesh potentially answering questions, other testimony, etc.) Now, if more studies testing this association are done and the effect can be reliably replicated, then I'll believe it.

And if it is true, the advice is pretty straightforward: If your client is an obese female, with all else equal, screen out lean men as potential jurors!

ExcaliburPrime111:Not sure if I believe this study. The thing with science is, sure, this published study seems to indicate that men, especially lean men, tend to "convict" obese females more than they would lean females, when given the same facts about an alleged check fraud crime.

But this is just one study, with a unique set of case facts for a specific crime, with specific pictures, using an at best imperfect approach (guilt or innocence was decided after reading a paragraph, not after a trial with evidence, the defendant in the flesh potentially answering questions, other testimony, etc.) Now, if more studies testing this association are done and the effect can be reliably replicated, then I'll believe it.

And if it is true, the advice is pretty straightforward: If your client is an obese female, with all else equal, screen out lean men as potential jurors!

I know it's the post just above mine, but it's the best post so far. QFT.

ExcaliburPrime111:Not sure if I believe this study. The thing with science is, sure, this published study seems to indicate that men, especially lean men, tend to "convict" obese females more than they would lean females, when given the same facts about an alleged check fraud crime.

But this is just one study, with a unique set of case facts for a specific crime, with specific pictures, using an at best imperfect approach (guilt or innocence was decided after reading a paragraph, not after a trial with evidence, the defendant in the flesh potentially answering questions, other testimony, etc.) Now, if more studies testing this association are done and the effect can be reliably replicated, then I'll believe it.

And if it is true, the advice is pretty straightforward: If your client is an obese female, with all else equal, screen out lean men as potential jurors!

Yeah, pretty much all of this. OF COURSE, with everything else being equal, then sure, fat chicks could get a raw deal. The problem, of course, is that in a real live trial, everything else is not equal. I'd be willing to bet that a fat, scared, crying chick would get a much lighter sentence than, say, a thin, beautiful, but cold and heartless appearing chick, for instance....or a fat, evil-looking man.

Lawyers have known for centuries it's all in whether the jury perceives the defendant as sympathetic...not in whether they think he or she is skinny enough.

I like how the author was going on and on about how men think obese women are vile and evil. I bet any money what's really happening is the men are cutting the cute chicks a break.

Also, don't hold your heads too high, ladies. As far as I can tell, weight isn't as big an issue to women as it is to men. Try throwing tall and short men at the female jurors and see if there's still no bias.

I would be interested to see how this study played out with different crimes as I would imagine each crime is likely to play to particular biases. If a similar study was done where the crime was rape or stealing veggies from a supermarket the fat gals would probably be less likely to be convicted. The skinny men likely more so.

Britney Spear's Speculum:Did the researchers exclude jurors like they would on a real jury? Did people volunteer for this study? If either of those conditions are true then this study isn't a real representative of a jury.

I don't think that this study is meant to be a commentary on a representative jury as much as it is a commentary on how people perceive other people.

Here's the thing, most fat men look kind of jolly, or approachable in a humble but friendly way...most fat (and I mean obese) women have those aweful frown lines and puckered lips from smoking. They just look biatchy and like criminals. It's easier to convict someone who looks low class and like a biatch...